Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions - Xbox 360http://www.gameinformer.com/games/spider-man_shattered_dimensions/b/xbox360/atom.aspxCommunity Server2010-06-08T17:00:00ZSpider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Review/games/spider-man_shattered_dimensions/b/xbox360/archive/2010/09/06/spider-man-shattered-dimensions-review.aspx2010-09-06T10:00:00Z2010-09-06T10:00:00Z<div class="paginated-post" rel="2"><div class="paginated-post-page" rel="1"><p><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/activision/spidermanshattereddimension/spiderman723-610.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>Many different versions of Spider-Man exist these days. Marvel&rsquo;s
wall-crawler has been re-envisioned as everything from a 17th century
Scottish rogue to a radioactive pig. In the past, I&rsquo;ve had little reason
to pay attention to these Spider-Man variants. However, developer
Beenox makes a strong argument for some of Spidey&rsquo;s time displaced alternates in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Leading me to wonder why games have focused on only one version of Spider-Man for so long. </p>
<p>Creating
a game with four different main characters, four different worlds, four
different art styles, and four different game types sounds overly
ambitious, but any smart developer knows that it needs to change things
up to keep the action fresh. Shattered Dimensions works that need for
variety into its fiction. One level had me running through a jungle
using Spider-Man&rsquo;s spider sense to dodge sniper fire. In the next I was
falling past mile-high skyscrapers, dodging hover cars in a future
version of New York. Next I was web-zipping between crates as they
twirled through the eye of a giant sand tornado. Then a series of
spotlights hunted me across the skyline as I quietly knocked out a mob
of thugs. The action in Shattered Dimensions is almost schizophrenic,
but it&rsquo;s never boring. Usually in a game like this, half the action ends
up feeling unpolished, but Beenox avoids that pitfall while making all
of Shattered Dimensions&rsquo; disparate game types flow seamlessly together.</p>
<p>With
this much going on it&rsquo;s almost hard to pick a favorite world. Amazing&rsquo;s
gorgeous environments reminded me of Borderlands&rsquo; comic book vistas,
and its web-based combat felt different than any of the other worlds. I
also loved 2099&rsquo;s neon-tipped environments and free-falling combat,
which had me slamming super villains into any object that got in the way
of gravity. The Ultimate universe puts Spidey in the black suit and
gives him a rage meter, which makes the action against hordes of smaller
minions all the more fierce. But I may have had the most fun in the
Noir universe, where its stealth-based levels allowed me to sneak
through cracks in the shadows and whittle away the enemy numbers with a
series of punishing takedowns. The variety in this game extends to the
unique boss battles, which usually involve using the environment to
creatively take down your opponent instead of just chipping away at a
large health bar.</p></div></div><script type="text/javascript">PaginateGrid();</script><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=487331" width="1" height="1">GIBenhttp://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIBen/default.aspxRoads? Where Spider-Man’s Going He Doesn’t Need Roads/games/spider-man_shattered_dimensions/b/xbox360/archive/2010/06/08/roads-where-spider-man-s-going-he-doesn-t-need-roads.aspx2010-06-08T17:00:00Z2010-06-08T17:00:00Z<p><img src="http://gameinformer.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/610x0/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.75.72/5383.54135.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>Marvel Comics released a line of books featuring futuristic versions of its many popular heroes in the early &lsquo;90s. The 2099 series failed to gain any traction, but Spider-Man 2099 will have a second chance at life later this year when developer Beenox brings this futuristic superhero back from the past in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.</p>
<p>In April, Activision announced Shattered Dimensions, a Spider-Man game that would cover four different universes and introduce gamers to versions of Spider-Man they likely weren&rsquo;t familiar with. Not only will each universe have its own art style, but it will also have its own distinct set of play mechanics. We break down the differences between all three announced worlds below.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://gameinformer.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.75.72/4744.280.jpg"><img src="http://gameinformer.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/610x0/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.75.72/4744.280.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><b>Dan Gilvezan, the voice actor from the &#39;80s show Spider-Man and His
Amazing Friends, will be voicing the 2099 version of Spider-Man</b></p>
<p>Spider-Man 2099 doesn&rsquo;t feature the lovable nerd Peter Parker that most people are familiar with. This futuristic superhero is a brilliant geneticist named Miguel O&#39;Hara, whose dangerous experiments grant him spider-like powers similar to those of Spider-Man proper. O&rsquo;Hara also wears a suit which allows him to glide through the air. This glide ability has allowed developer Beenox to create larger, more vertical environments. A lot of the action in the 2099 universe will take place in mid-air. Environments are alive with activity, and Spidey 2099 will have to dodge hover cars, jet bikes, and monorails as he flies through a city that stretches into the upper atmosphere. Some of Spider-Man 2099&rsquo;s other powers include enhanced senses, which allow him to briefly slow down time, and razor sharp talons that make him a fierce hand-to-hand combatant. All of this should come in handy while Spidey is fighting Hobgoblin, a villain that Beenox is introducing to the 2099 universe.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://gameinformer.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.75.72/5824.610.jpg"><img src="http://gameinformer.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/610x0/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.75.72/5824.610.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><b>Amazing Spider-Man will have access to more web-based moves than any of
the other Spider-Men, including: web hammers, web maces, and web fists</b></p>
<p>The Amazing universe is Beenox&rsquo;s nod to classical comics; it&rsquo;s more lighthearted and colorful than some of the other universes. Featuring the traditional Spider-Man that most people are familiar with, Amazing&rsquo;s gameplay will focus on fast and effective combat. What set Amazing Spider-Man apart from his counterparts are his webs. In this world, Spidey will be able to make a variety of web-based weapons, such as a giant web hammer that he uses against an army of goons. The environments in the Amazing universe will also be somewhat destructible. During one battle with Kraven, we saw Spidey throw the villain into a stone pillar, and then pick up the large pieces of rock and hurl them at the master hunter for extra damage.</p>
<p><a href="http://gameinformer.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.75.72/8304.1280.jpg"><img src="http://gameinformer.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/610x0/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.75.72/8304.1280.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>
<p>The Noir universe takes Spider-Man and transplants him into a mob-run New York of the 1930s. Noir is visually darker, but this art style is used to full effect in the gameplay, which has an increased focus on stealth. During a section of the game, Spider-Man has to track down his nemesis Norman Osborn, a master criminal known as the Goblin who looks a lot like a circus freak in the Noir universe. Spider-Man Noir is a sneaky hero, and he crawls his way into Coney Island to confront the Goblin. Unfortunately a fireworks display explodes overhead, so Spider-Man will have to be extra careful to not get caught in the open during one of the light flashes, otherwise he&rsquo;ll quickly find himself facing off against an army of the Goblin&#39;s goons. Hopefully all of Spider-Man Noir&rsquo;s levels have a similar unique twist on the standard stealth-based action.</p>
<p>Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is due out this September, and the more we see of the game, the better it looks. We hope that Beenox&rsquo;s creative ideas for four different worlds produce one solid Spider-Man game. The only question that remains is, what is the fourth universe? Ultimate Spider-Man is a good candidate as it&rsquo;s the most popular alternate version of Spider-Man. But it might be kind of fun to see Neil Gaiman&rsquo;s 1602 version of Spider-Man in a game, or a Japanese manga version of Spider-Man. It likely won&rsquo;t be the Italian Spider-Man. That deserves its own game altogether. </p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=363661" width="1" height="1">GIBenhttp://www.gameinformer.com/members/GIBen/default.aspx